Amid the scores of students and families hauling carts filled with mini-refrigerators, mattress pads, TVs and overstuffed suitcases to UCLA’s residence halls this week, first-year student Chase Harris showed up with perhaps the most quintessentially “LA” items of all: a couple of surfboards.
For the economics major and longtime wave-rider from Carlsbad, the boards were part and parcel of the new life he’s been planning for years. “I had come to visit UCLA a few times, and it’s always been really cool,” said Harris, who now joins two older brothers as a Bruin. “I just felt that this was where I wanted to be. I worked really hard, and now I’m here.”
Nearby, his mom, Ashley, beamed. “It’s just such a great university — it checks all the boxes,” she said. “There’s so much for him to look forward to, and I’m really excited for him.”
That sense of excitement and possibility infused the huge migration unfolding across campus and Westwood, with nearly 20,000 new and returning students, helped along by their families and friends, moving into university-owned housing for the 2026–27 academic year, including roughly 15,300 Bruins settling into their digs on the Hill.
With thousands arriving each day between Sept. 16 and 19, the operation has involved some serious choreography. As Bruin buses and vans have ferried folks to the Hill, some 800 student volunteers and True Bruin Ambassadors have helped keep UCLA’s ubiquitous blue and yellow moving carts rolling and the Bruin spirit flowing.
They have been joined by Chancellor Julio Frenk and his partner, Associate of the Chancellor Felicia Marie Knaul, with the welcome wagon waving pom-poms and shouting “Welcome, Bruins” and “Happy move-in” as the sounds of UCLA’s Marching Band practicing reverberated across campus.
And everywhere, carts, carts and more carts, ferrying clothes, record players, knick-knacks, energy drinks, industrial-sized packs of Takis and instant noodles, and all the little things that make a dorm a home. Crammed among the belongings in the container of Houston resident Emily Ma were a photo puzzle of her beloved Shetland sheepdog and a bedazzled stuffed duck.
The first-year student, who plans to major in pre-business and economics, with a minor in data science, was thrilled to begin exploring all her new city has to offer. “LA is just where it’s at,” she said.
“This is where her passion is,” her father, Long, said, “and we’re very excited for her to pursue her dream in Los Angeles, at UCLA. I feel the very warm welcome here already. Emily is going to feel at home.”
And while they were hauling, unpacking and figuring out where everything would fit, Bruins spoke about the feeling of belonging that attracted them to Westwood, and what the year ahead might look like.
For Avery Douglas, who’d left Stockton with her parents at 5 a.m. for the drive to Westwood, that meant getting as deeply involved as she could in a campus whose supportive spirit drew her in the first place. With her father and mother standing by in “UCLA Mom” and “UCLA Dad” T-shirts, she spoke about the UCLA community and joining some of the hundreds of clubs and organizations the campus has to offer.
“I just really wanted to be in a place that has such positive energy and is really supportive,” the first-year musicology major said. “Plus, there’s a lot of stuff to do besides academics.”
Likewise, Keira Lahiff, a first-year competitive snowboarder from Truckee who plans to major in physiological science, was looking forward to exploring UCLA’s clubs, particularly those around pre-med, but said the big draw was the campus’s collaborative and supportive environment.
“I just don't want to be in a dog-eat-dog type of campus,” she said. She also admitted that there was another important factor in her decision — one heard frequently among incoming students.
“I can't lie,” she said, smiling. “I've heard the food's really good.”
For first-year student Juleen Grace Mallari, the process of getting involved had already begun. The psychology major and public affairs minor from San Francisco spent move-in operating a photo area for new admits as a member of Rieber Hall’s resident government council — a position she applied for over the summer and spent weeks training for.
Meeting UCLA students during an initial visit to campus, she said, helped convince her that the university was where she wanted to be. “They just built such an amazing community. I was like, ‘OK, I really want to go here now,’” she said.
For Mallari, that feeling of community was even more important than UCLA’s rankings or reputation. “At the end of the day, I want to go to a school where I feel like I actually belong,” she said.
For returning students, move-in brought other feelings. Second-year student Maya Solis traveled from Dobbs Ferry, New York, with her parents for her second move-in on the Hill. After the adjustment of relocating last year, coming back felt different.
“I think I'm just excited to feel familiar with everything,” said Solis, who is planning to study communication, with a minor in film. “But there are still so many new things I'm excited for.”
Her mother, Christina, had advice for parents going through their first UCLA move-in. “Just enjoy the experience, enjoy the journey,” she said. “It's a happy time — and bittersweet because you’re dropping off your child. But it's exciting to watch them grow and discover themselves along the way.”
Photos from move-in: Meet more of UCLA's students
